Did you know?
- Thread starter Johnny West
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Johnny West
Well-known member
Luckytrim
Grill Master
High in the icy silence of the Ötztal Alps, a man lay frozen in time — hidden under snow and glacier for more than 5,000 years. When hikers discovered his body in 1991, they had no idea they had stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological finds in modern history.
He would come to be known as Ötzi, the Iceman — a Copper Age traveler who died around 3400–3100 BCE. But he didn’t die quietly. An arrow pierced his shoulder, shattering bone and blood vessels. He suffered a head injury. And his hand bore the mark of a fight, just days earlier.
Beside him were his tools: a copper axe, flint knife, and a long wooden stick — later confirmed to be a bow. His quiver still held arrows, some finished, some half-made. He wore a coat, leggings, a belt, and a loincloth, all crafted from animal hide, and a bearskin cap to shield him from the cold. Even his shoes were stuffed with grass for warmth. Near him lay a broken frame — likely the remains of a backpack.
tzi also carried birch-bark containers, one of which held charcoal and maple leaves — clues to fire-making or medicine. His stomach, miraculously preserved, still held his final meal: meat, fruit, grains, and plants — a diet as practical as it was telling.
But perhaps the most haunting discovery? 61 tattoos, made by cutting the skin and rubbing in charcoal — likely for pain relief, marking the earliest known form of therapeutic tattooing.
Today, Ötzi rests in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy, still dressed in the clothes he died in. Through science and time, he whispers from a world long gone — reminding us how much we can learn from those who walked before us.
He would come to be known as Ötzi, the Iceman — a Copper Age traveler who died around 3400–3100 BCE. But he didn’t die quietly. An arrow pierced his shoulder, shattering bone and blood vessels. He suffered a head injury. And his hand bore the mark of a fight, just days earlier.
Beside him were his tools: a copper axe, flint knife, and a long wooden stick — later confirmed to be a bow. His quiver still held arrows, some finished, some half-made. He wore a coat, leggings, a belt, and a loincloth, all crafted from animal hide, and a bearskin cap to shield him from the cold. Even his shoes were stuffed with grass for warmth. Near him lay a broken frame — likely the remains of a backpack.
tzi also carried birch-bark containers, one of which held charcoal and maple leaves — clues to fire-making or medicine. His stomach, miraculously preserved, still held his final meal: meat, fruit, grains, and plants — a diet as practical as it was telling.
But perhaps the most haunting discovery? 61 tattoos, made by cutting the skin and rubbing in charcoal — likely for pain relief, marking the earliest known form of therapeutic tattooing.
Today, Ötzi rests in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Italy, still dressed in the clothes he died in. Through science and time, he whispers from a world long gone — reminding us how much we can learn from those who walked before us.
I had this whole thing about the history of the Kentucky Derby and this years winner, and it's no longer in my bookmarks.
No idea how that happened.
Grrr
No idea how that happened.
Grrr
Johnny West
Well-known member
I Googled it.
It's true.
It's true.
Johnny West
Well-known member
Luckytrim
Grill Master
It’s common knowledge that the English alphabet contains 26 letters. However few people know that when the printing press came into existence in the fifteenth century, the alphabet used to contain one more letter that came after Z. It’s considered to be a symbol more than a letter these days but everyone who knows the English language recognizes it as ‘&’.
The ‘&’ symbol is called ampersand and it has an interesting history. The origin of the symbol can be dated back to ancient Rome, one of the earliest civilizations in which writing was used extensively. The Latin word for ‘and’ was ‘et’ and the two letters were combined into one. This is also known as a ligature. Instances of ligatures are widespread among various cultures. Perhaps the most popular one is the combination of ‘a’ and ‘e’ to make ae as a single letter with a unique phoneme.
So ‘et’ together in Latin meant ‘and’ and over the years, the way these two words were written changed. Cursive writing played an important role in making these two letters look like the ampersand. Till the time the printing press was invented, ‘&’ was considered an independent letter.
The ‘&’ symbol is called ampersand and it has an interesting history. The origin of the symbol can be dated back to ancient Rome, one of the earliest civilizations in which writing was used extensively. The Latin word for ‘and’ was ‘et’ and the two letters were combined into one. This is also known as a ligature. Instances of ligatures are widespread among various cultures. Perhaps the most popular one is the combination of ‘a’ and ‘e’ to make ae as a single letter with a unique phoneme.
So ‘et’ together in Latin meant ‘and’ and over the years, the way these two words were written changed. Cursive writing played an important role in making these two letters look like the ampersand. Till the time the printing press was invented, ‘&’ was considered an independent letter.